When we first came up with the idea for the Climate Culture Art Symposium for youth, people were confused. They asked what do the culture and arts have to do with climate change in Bangladesh? Our answer: everything.

Up until now, climate change in Bangladesh has mostly been addressed by the development industry. But climate change is not just a development issue, but a cultural + arts issue as well.

For a country like Bangladesh, adapting to climate change is not just a matter of building sea walls but culturally reckoning with what it means to live in a changed climate.

On one hand, climate change will likely disrupt traditional practices in the country. What will happen, for instance, to traditional the winter celebration festivals — Pousha Mela and Pousha Shonkranti — when the traditional six seasons of Bengal no longer exist? And how will Baul musicians spiritual beliefs and practices alter as the climate changes, particularly when so much of their inspiration arises from nature?

Yet on the other, let’s not forget artists and storytellers have the chance to respond! Art and storytelling not only have the power to spread awareness of climate change and inspire more ambitious action, but can also pose deeper societal questions about what we want our future under climate change to look like.

The symposium will bring youth across the country to engage critically and creatively in these questions! As the first gathering of its kind in Bangladesh, we are excited as you are to see what happens.